Security Engineer - Sentinel

Security Engineer - Sentinel - Contract or CTP - Remote - $75.00 - $80.00/hr.

The final salary or hourly wage, as applicable, paid to each candidate/applicant for this position is ultimately dependent on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the candidate's/applicant's qualifications, skills, and level of experience as well as the geographical location of the position.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Sponsorship not available.

Our client is seeking a Security Engineer - Sentinel in for a remote opportunity

Role Description

We are seeking a highly skilled Security Engineer with strong experience in developing analytical workbooks, dashboards, and detection capabilities within Microsoft Sentinel, Grafana, or both. The ideal candidate will have expert-level proficiency in Kusto Query Language (KQL) and a solid understanding of modern security operations, threat detection, and cloud-native security tooling.
This role will support the design, implementation, and optimization of our security monitoring ecosystem, enabling our security operations teams to identify threats quickly and respond effectively.

Security Monitoring & Analytics
Develop, optimize, and maintain Sentinel Workbooks, Grafana dashboards, and other visualization assets to support SOC operations and leadership reporting.
Create complex KQL queries to power analytic rules, hunting queries, dashboards, performance monitoring, and incident investigations.
Build custom detections, alerts, and data visualization pipelines to support threat detection and security posture improvement.

Threat Detection & Engineering
Collaborate with SOC analysts and incident responders to design, tune, and validate detection logic.
Transform security logs from various data sources into actionable insights using advanced analytics.
Identify gaps in visibility, recommend new data connectors, and assist in onboarding log sources to Sentinel or Grafana.

Platform Engineering & Automation
Support the configuration, administration, and performance tuning of Microsoft Sentinel and/or Grafana.
Implement automation using Sentinel automation rules, Logic Apps, or scripting to streamline processes.
Monitor system health, data ingestion, and query performance; troubleshoot and optimize when needed.

Documentation & Collaboration
Document dashboards, workbooks, analytic rules, and operational procedures.
Provide knowledge transfer and training to SOC analysts on using dashboards, running hunting queries, and interpreting data.
Work closely with cloud, security, and IT teams to ensure cohesive monitoring across the environment.

Skills & Requirements

5+ years of experience in security engineering, threat detection, SOC operations, or a related field.
Demonstrated experience building dashboards or workbooks in one or more of:
Microsoft Sentinel
Grafana
Expert proficiency in Kusto Query Language (KQL), including building advanced queries, joins, aggregations, and performance-optimized logic.
Strong understanding of security logging, SIEM fundamentals, and common log sources (Azure, O365, AD, firewalls, EDR, etc.).
Experience with cloud platforms, especially Azure.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.
Experience with Sentinel Analytic Rules, Hunting Queries, Data Connectors, and Logic Apps.
Familiarity with Prometheus, Elastic, Azure Monitor, or other observability platforms.
Knowledge of threat detection methodologies, MITRE ATT&CK, and incident response processes.

Benefits/Other Compensation

This position is a contract/temporary role where Hays offers you the opportunity to enroll in full medical benefits, dental benefits, vision benefits, 401K and Life Insurance ($20,000 benefit).

Why Hays?

You will be working with a professional recruiter who has intimate knowledge of the industry and market trends. Your Hays recruiter will lead you through a thorough screening process in order to understand your skills, experience, needs, and drivers. You will also get support on resume writing, interview tips, and career planning, so when there's a position you really want, you're fully prepared to get it.

Nervous about an upcoming interview? Unsure how to write a new resume?

Visit the Hays Career Advice section to learn top tips to help you stand out from the crowd when job hunting.

Hays is committed to building a thriving culture of diversity that embraces people with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better we serve our candidates, clients, and employees. We are an equal employment opportunity employer, and we comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, creed, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, marital status, genetic information, HIV-positive status, as well as any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. One of Hays' guiding principles is 'do the right thing'.
We also believe that actions speak louder than words.
In that regard, we train our staff on ensuring inclusivity throughout the entire recruitment process and counsel our clients on these principles. If you have any questions about Hays or any of our processes, please contact us.

In accordance with applicable federal, state, and local law protecting qualified individuals with known disabilities, Hays will attempt to reasonably accommodate those individuals unless doing so would create an undue hardship on the company. Any qualified applicant or consultant with a disability who requires an accommodation in order to perform the essential functions of the job should call or text .

Drug testing may be required; please contact a recruiter for more information.

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